Cuba breaks winning streak of Russia in Pool A – Volleyball news
Caribbean men from Cuba worked out a terrific performance against powerhouse Russia on third day of the 2012 FIVB World League.
They defeated the defending World League champions Russia in five sets and grabbed the second win of the tournament. The set scores were 3-2 (23-25, 25-17, 25-20, 18-25, 15-10). Russia clinched success in the earlier two matches but dropped the decision
in Cuba’s favour in the third match. Hence, both Russia and Cuba finished the first leg of the preliminary round with 2-1 record.
Cuban skipper, Wilfredo Leon staged eye-catching action on the net and added a flurry of points in the match. He totalled 24 points and settled for top-scorer’s position. On the other hand, Russian opposite Pavel Moroz claimed 18 points.
Russia came out firing in the opening set and tried to put pressure on the Cuban side. The team had already won two matches, while Cuba suffered the loss in its second match. Apparently, Russia seemed to have better form and influenced the Caribbean squad
with powerful attacks. Cuba put up resistance but lost the opening set with narrow gap of two points, 23-25.
After dropping the first set, Cuba jumped to an early lead in the following frame. Yenry Bell Cisnero joined hands with Leon and helped Cuba with point-scoring shots. Russian initially trailed behind with a difference of four points (4-8) but the gap kept
on stretching. Cuban hitters found a great rhythm and directed their shots in the rare gaps. They restricted Russia to the score of 17 in second set and clinched success, 25-17.
Cuba received from the shock of defeat in the first set and got its full form back in third set. Russia, on the other hand, tied the score once but could not stop the ambitious Cubans. Third set also came successful for Cuba and Caribbean side went up, 2-1.
In the fourth set, Russia played better and found its way back in the game. Russian picked four-point lead at 15-11. Cuba suffered the loss in third set, while game score tied at 2-2.
In the fifth-decisive set, Cuba earned better points and ended with 15-10. Success in final set led Cuba to 3-2 victory in the match.
Sergio Busato, the Russian mentor, praised the effort to Cuban players and congratulated them for victory. He opened admitted that his attackers faced a lot of difficult to break through the Cuba defence. Russian Coach especially complimented Leon and Hernandez
of Cuba for their wonderful performance.
His Cuban counterpart Orlando Samuels Blackwood thanked him for the nice comments and disclosed his views in the following manner. He stated, “Today was best match of all especially with few errors in serve, that was good. Some regular players were missing
from the Russian team though, but the team is very, very good.”
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